Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-02-09
SCIENCE OF THE PEN.
How to Tell Peculiarities of People
by Their Penmanship.
Flourishes That Denote Vanity and Con.
ceit-Ambit;on, Prosperity, Imagina-
ton. Etc, shown by the Way In
Which Letters Are Formed.

Which Letters Are Formed.
[Heron-Allen. in N V Mail and Expressl
America is the country par excellence in
which the autograph hunter RACES with
uncompromising virulence. It is said that
young lady of this class once asked W.
d. Howells for his signature shortly after
the publication of ''The Lady of the Aroo-
stook," "a Forgone Conclusion" and I've
netian Life" Thereupon he wrote some
impromptu verses in her album. Sheread
them over, and then exclaimed, her pretty
face bursting into an encouraging smile:
''Oh, Mr.. Howells, should think you
might do something for the papers and
magazines; I've seen much worse things
than that in print
And then the things they ask for These
are the sort of letters one re ceives: Dear
Mr.. Gladstone: 1 should be glad if you
will give me the original MS. Of your
speech on the Irish question. Yours, etc"
As one steps upon the platform of the
American railway depot the en-
CINE driver will step down with
a grimy triangular strip of paper
Gnd a stumpy pencil and beg for
ones autograph; the newsboy whom one
patronizes from the window Of the saloon
is ready with his stylograph to receive
ones signature on the flbrous margin of a
newspaper. for which he will boldly asked
a dollar or more, ''with autograph of Os-
car Wilde complete!" On menus for the
restaurant waiter, On visiting cards for
the casual wayfarer, in albums for the
enthusiastic and goldcn-haired Medah &.
Bangs, always the same, autographs,
autographs, autographs, from the cradle
TO the grave, if not at periods anterior
and posterior to the halting places of hu-
man existence. A few years ago a SYM
postum of the mast persecuted was held
at Cambridge, Mass, and the following
main rules in the matter were propounded
and adopted:
First-Autographs are to be sent. sometimes
to men, never TO women, always to children.
Second-The letter requesting the autographs
must be accompanied by stamp for reply.
Third-It must be distinctly complimentary,
mere bold request. or, as is often the case,
demand, not being sufficient.
The sale of autographs in America is a
regularly recognized branch of commerce.
Every well-known autograph has its rec
ognized market value, and gentleman
tells US of Mr.. Gladstone's letter, express
ing his inability to comply with q request
for subscription to an American charity,
being sold in aid of that charity for a dis
tinctly acceptable price. A writer in the
Globe, in the month of June, $780, tells us
that almost simultaneously with the visit
of DR.. Oliver Wendell Holmes to England
the original MS. of the ''One Hoss Shay
was discovered in New York, and was
purchased by Mr.. Franklin Tinker for a
considerable sum. That the handwriting
has certain marked characteristics III
every individual, and that these charac.
teristics, properly examined and inter
preted, according to given rules and meth
DDS, will tell US more concerning the indi
vidual character of the writer, is
an established fact, and the tabula
ton of these rules and of this method
| is now complete in the works of such &C
knowledged authorities as Rosa Baughan
| Liable Flandrin and Adolphe Heuzc
| The more compare different handwrit
| ings," says Lavatcr. inhis sFhysiognomisch,
| Fragmente zur Beforderung der Men
| schenkenntniss, IL. 8. w. Deipsic, 1775-7S)
'the more am convinced that handwriting
| is the expression of the character of hin
| who writes. Each nation has its nationa
| character Of writing as the physiognomy
| of each people expresses the most salien
| points of character in the nation" and
may quote the remark of Rosa Baughan
| Top cit. D. 81: THAT the Handwriting
really reflects the personality of the write
! is evident from the fact that it alters anC
| develops with the intelligence; that it be
| comes firm when the character strength
ems; weak and feeble when the person
who writes is i'll or Ggitated, and errati
when he is under the influence of grea
| Joy, grief, or any other passion"
Writing which has a tendency to ascenc
| toward the end of the lines denotes alway
am bition, prosperity and success, willis
l -,.it tiY,r ,i,h lo he,
dency to descend betrays melancholy, ill
health and taciturnity. If a writin,
which descends thus is disjointed and in
terspersed with meaningless ornament, i
is sign of tendency toward madness
Flourishos are always bad, denotln;
vanity, conceit and self-assertion, whil
peculiarly formed letters denote inva
riably-and obviously-eccentricit
More can be told by the observation o
single letters, especially capitals, thar
anything else. Thps capital A denote
great sense of beauty, and strong will
shown in the strong barring When tn
bar is loop, there is the same sense O
beauty, but less will. The scrnt capita
A shows simplicity and clearness of ideas
4 looped shows tenderness and gener
osity, while the Greek or d Indicate
eccentricity and imagination.
An with flying top betrays imagins
tion and Indifference, whilst a curly on
shows cultivation and sensitive minC
, A curly II shows poetry and art, and
; curly gives grace and sense of beauty
but the straight, like Brother Hates an
Oscar Wilde's, gives higher and NOR
precise nature to the artistic instinct an
increases the poetic faculty. These il
stances are sufficient in this place; fc
others / must refer you to Miss Ros
Baughan's work, quoted above, to which
am indebted for the sc examples.
Disproportionato loops betray self -asse
ton; look out for them in letters like
and l. and Y. Letters stopping short
their finals show economy; long or extent
ed finals with spaces between the word
Indicate generosity, IL not extravaganza
l Inward curves denote egotism.
Stops are also most distinctive Heav
! and black, they betray sensuality; lonJ
they denote vivacity and originality A
dotted with a feck indicates rockies
ness. Absence of stops shows want
caution and an unsusnicious nature
|